2014 national title to be decided at Cowboys Stadium

By Tim Griffin :
April 24, 2013

Big 12 coaches, particularly those in the Lone Star State, are ecstatic the inaugural College Football Playoff title game in 2014 will be contested at Cowboys Stadium.

Photo By Photo by File photo by Winslow Townson |

In this Oct. 7, 2007 file photo, New England Patriots linebacker Junior Seau runs with the ball after an interception during New England's 34-17 win over the Cleveland Browns at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.

A winner-take-all national championship football game will be returning to Texas soil for the first time in almost 50 years.

The College Football Playoff announced the first national title game will be played in 2014 at Cowboys Stadium. It will be the first game at a Texas site to settle a champion since UT and Navy met at the Cotton Bowl in 1964.

College Football Playoff officials decided the larger seating capacity and improved spectator and sponsorship amenities for the new stadium in Arlington made more sense than the other finalist, Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla.

The news was hailed by Big 12 coaches who are excited about the opportunity to stage a title game in their backyard.

Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops knows about the importance of having a home crowd in a national championship game. The Sooners lost national title matchups after the 2003 season in New Orleans against LSU and after the 2009 season to Florida at Dolphin Stadium in Miami.

“We've been in a couple of national championship sites where the crowd is maybe 80-20 or 70-30 (in favor of the opposition),” Stoops said. “You feel like you're playing an away game, and the other team is playing a home game.”

The Sooners have produced a 1-2 record at the Arlington facility, including a loss to Texas A&M in the 2013 Cotton Bowl. Despite that checkered history in the stadium, Stoops is enthused what it could mean to the area and potentially his conference.

“Obviously, everyone knows what a great, quality, awesome stadium it is,” Stoops said. “Then, the location for us is an advantage, or it should be.”

The Cotton Bowl will be a part of a six-bowl rotation for the national semifinal game during the next 12 years. Other bowls will include current BCS bowl members with the Rose, Sugar, Orange and Fiesta and the Chick-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta.

TCU coach Gary Patterson likes the idea that title-game sites will be rotated.

“I think that's awesome,” Patterson said. “I like the idea of being able to move (the title game and the semifinals) around. I think their concept was like the Super Bowl. I'm glad we kept the playoff part of it inside the bowl system, but I think having the first one here in the Dallas-Fort Worth area is just awesome if that's what transpires.”

Baylor coach Art Briles has been a supporter of the stadium since its opening, particularly after playing Texas Tech three times there in the past four seasons.

“I'm all for a national playoff and all for it being in Dallas,” Briles said. “It's a great stadium. I don't know how they configure the seats, but they could hold possibly 98,000 to 100,000 in there. Plus, you're never going to have bad weather.

“I believe that football is at its best down here in the southwest, so let's have the best game down here.”

At least for the first year, the powers running the College Football Playoff agree.